Butter the Goddamned Parsnips
There's an old expression that reads: "Fine words butter no parsnips." Aerosmith say it in a different way when they sing, "Talk is cheap, shut up and dance." Most people I know (myself included) have a tendency to stall by talking. Instead of doing something, for fear that anything we do will be criticized or ridiculed, we agonize over the "what if...?"s. And that's why procrastination, why talking ideas to death instead of implementing them,...
Say It Right
Recenly, I read a news release from GM talking about how the company is trying to get rid of the name "Chevy" in people's minds and replace it entirely with the full name "Chevrolet". According to the article, office workers at GM actually have "Chevy jars" (much like "swear jars") that they have to contribute to if they let a "Chevy" slip in conversation. Apparently, General Motors has always tolerated, rather than embraced, this nickname...
Sliced and Diced
As a programmer, I'll occasionally browse jobs on Dice.com. For the past year, since getting a steady job, I've been getting at least three emails from them a week. The last one I received contained a list of available positions. Here they are: Raytheon Software Engineer Riverdale, MDYahoo Senior Java Developer Richardson, TXSapphire Project Manager Chicago, ILSapient Senior Manager, Technology (.NET) Boston, MAAmazon Manager - DBA Seattle, WA Here's the problem with this: Dice.com knows...
Throw Me a Frickin' Bone Here
There's a local band in my town that plays Peruvian jazz. In truth Peruvian style, the guitar player always plays the pan flute instead of a harmonica. He's accompanied by a percussionist on conga drums and a saxophonist. They are an excellent group, and if they're playing in town, I'll go watch them perform when I've got a free evening. At their shows, there's always a video camera set up on a tripod, recording them....
Business Card
I had an old high school chum message me a few weeks ago. He mentioned that he had been unemployed for the last few months and was looking for work in the culinary arts. A few days after we spoke, he found himself a job, at which he seems to be very happy. He didn't ask me for my advice about job hunting (and I don't think he would have needed it), but if he...
What's Your Specialty?
One of my co-workers gave me an excellent piece of advice: "Never be a journalist; be a specialist." This is excellent advice that doesn't just pertain to the field of journalism. It's actually very common advice in business wisdom that you shouldn't try to be all things to all people, because that does very little to distinguish you. We grew up consuming mass marketing, listening to car companies and Coca-Cola using classic rock in boring...
Ownership and Passion
I had a friend who went in for a job interview recently. She interviewed with the owner of a very small, high-end retail shop. He wanted help expanding his business, particularly the online portion being run through his store's website. He concluded the interview by telling her, "Whoever I hire to do this job, I want them to be willing to work very hard. As hard as it takes to get the job done. This...
Best Buy Bait and Switch
Last year, the day after Thanksgiving, I went into Best Buy to purchase a computer that I had read about in the sales flyers. I knew that I needed a new laptop for work, and there was a pretty good deal on a Toshiba. I'm not overzealous about these kinds of sales, so I slept in, and went into the store around 11 A.M. The first employee I asked about the computer told me that...
Movement
In an era when I can go online and pay a relatively small fee to file my individual income taxes using TurboTax, why would I go to H&R Block or hire an accountant? Ask a tax accountant this question, and they'll probably get very defensive. Either that, or grumble something about how working with a person is better than working with an online software service. So far, they haven't convinced me of the latter point....
Obviously
I once read somewhere that you should be cautious with your use of the word "obviously". If something really is obvious, then pointing it out is redundant. If it isn't, then it's diminutive to the person you're talking to. A lot of what I write on here is probably stating the obvious to someone. It's very presumptuous of me to write these little bursts of my thoughts and expect anyone to get something out of...